Wrap-around goodyear welt seam construction



1956 v. A. SHERBROOK 3,233,347

WRAP-AROUND GOODYEAR WELT SEAM CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 50, 1964 MW 07 A 6752715? 001 United States Patent 3,233,347 WRAP-AROUND GOODYEAR WELT SEAM CONSTRUCTION Victor A. Sirerbrook, 164 Colonel Hunt Drive, Abington, Mass. Filed Jan. 30, 1964, Ser. No. 341,316 2 Claims. (Cl. 3617) This invention relates to a new and improved wraparound seam for Goodyear welt constructions for vulcanized or injection molded sole attaching processes, and the principal objects of the invention reside in the provision of a novel completely waterproof welt seam; the provision of a more flexible welt shoe; the provision of a wrap-around seam of the class described which is less expensive to manufacture, eliminating many shoe making operations otherwise necessary on Goodyear welts such as roughening, edge-making, heel attaching, and solefinishing; the provision of a shoe of the construction described which is much lighter than made by prior art welting processes; and the provision of a wrap-around seam for Goodyear welt shoes to which outer soles may be vulcanized or injection molded, the new wrap-around seam providing a greatly improved and stronger abutment for attachment of the outer sole thereto.

Further objects of the invention reside in the provision of .a new wrap-around seam overlying surplus untrimmed upper leather which may be cement lasted to the insole, the wrap-around seam preferably being made from elongated strips of rubber-like material cut to desired widths and thicknesses, or of suitable plastic material which can be extruded in continuous lengths, or even of split leather.

The invention is carried out in general by using a wrap edge welt construction which however instead of being brought down into contact with the edges of the outer sole, is wrapped completely over the seam and cemented to the sewing rib and the insole prior to molding or vulcanizing the outer sole.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating the invention partly formed;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the new construction completed but without the outer sole;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the outer sole molded onto the welt and the insole;

FIG. 4 is a view in elevation illustrating a modification, and

FIG. 5 is a section on line 55 of FIG. 4.

In illustrating the invention, the reference numeral indicates an insole of any construction having applied thereto a sewing rib 12. This sewing rib is preferably formed of tape as shown and described in my United States Patents Nos. 2,713,692 and 2,985,555, but can be of other constructions also.

The upper leather is indicated at 14 and is attached in the usual way to the rib. The welting of the present invention is indicated by the numeral 16 and this is connected by the stitching at 18 to the rib, together with the leather upper.

The welting 16 is elongated and may be provided in substantially continuous strips. It is of considerable width and it is shown in FIG. 1 in full lines in more or less the position that it normally assumes when attached to the sewing rib. In the present case it is turned completely over in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 to closely engage and be tightly cemented to the rib and also the insole as shown in FIG. 2. The rib and welt are flattened down as much as possible.

The welting 16 can be provided with an elongated fabric or similar reenforcement stripping as at 20. It is to be understood that the welting is done in more or less conventional manner as is also the inseam trimming, etc., the novel step being illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 where the welting is wrapped completely around over the rib and is pressed to the insole and made as flat as possible. The rib itself is flattened out as far as possible also, in an operation including this purpose. Then the outsole 22 is molded or vulcanized onto the abutment formed by the welt and also onto the insole and no stitching or cementing is necessary for this operation.

It Will be seen that there is little or no bottom filler cavity produced. Although the drawings are necessarily exaggerated in FIGS. 1 and 2 in order to illustrate the invention, the bottom filler cavity is almost eliminated and no filler is actually needed. The outer sole is in just about flat condition when molded or vulcanized to the welting described and sets just about flat on the insole. This provides an outer edge support particularly desirable in some kinds of shoes such as for instance golf shoes. Filler material can be used if desired, in which case the outer sole will be slightly convex.

Also no roughing of the welt is needed as the welt material used is conducive to attaching by vulcanizing and molding and in this regard it is emphasized that a rubber type of material is preferable although plastics, leather and other flexible materials can be utilized. Furthermore, the entire sole may be treated in the manner stated so that heel attaching is avoided and the outer sole being in one piece can be applied at one time including the heel, but heel seating and a separate heel may be used if desired. The foot is cradled to some extent because of the outer edge support referred to when no filler is used, and the shoe is therefore clearly more flexible as well as being lighter in weight.

This construction provides a flexible welt shoe with a completely waterproof scam; the new seam provides an extremely strong abutment for vulcanized or injection molded shoe attaching constructions. Roughing the leather upper is avoided and this roughing is of course undesirable as is well known because it removes the top grain and reduces the thickness of the leather thereby weakening the leather fibers and creating an inconsistent bonding condition. A shoe made with the present wrap-around welt construction is stronger and is not likely to experience bonding failure.

As is shown in FIG. 4, the free edge of the welt can be pinked to facilitate folding over curved areas and it can be pre-roughed and pre-cemented thereby eliminating these operations in the making of a shoe.

Now referring to FIGS. 4 and 5. In this case the insole is indicated at 24 and the rib at 26. These are the same as before. In this case, however, the leather upper 28 is not trimmed and therefore it has a surplus edge area extending over the rib 26 as at 30 and onto the insole as at 32 and it can be cement lasted in this position. In so doing, it also cements down the insole rib 26 regardless of the construction of the latter, thus leaving a flat lasted condition on the welt shoe insole. In the next operation using the same side lasting machine if desired, it is possible to wrap the wrap-around welt indicated at 34 and cement it to the now flattened upper in the area at 36. This folded-over upper and welt construction projecting over the flattened rib forms another relatively flat and tightly welded projection to which an outsole can be molded or vulcanized. This construction is extremely strong and flexible but otherwise the construction is the same as before and the outsole will then be molded or vulcanized directly onto the pier or abutment formed by the rib, upper, and the new wrap-around welt. It is to be noted that the welt seam is not even visible when the shoe is completed by the addition of the outer sole (see FIG. 3), wherein it is clear that the new wrap-around welt seam is completely embedded in the molded or vulcanized outer sole. 7

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not Wish to be limited tothe details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is: I

1. A Goodyear welt construction for shoes comprising an insole, a sewing rib on the insole adjacent the edges thereof, an upper secured to the rib, and a welt strip secured to the rib at the outer aspect thereof, with a portion of the upper between the welt strip and the Til), the welt strip being folded over the rib and cemented down onto the same andextendi beyond the rib, said welt strip covering the rib, and the rib being, folded down onto the insole so that the rib, the edge 'of the u per, and the folded over welt strip form a relatively smallprojection in the area of the rib about the insole, and a moulded outsole conforming to the shape of the projection and the insole and attached onto the folded over welt strip and the insole completely covering the welt strip and the insole, the upper extending over a portion of the insole and being cemented to the insole.

2. The Goodyear welt construction recited in claim 1 in which the upper extends inwardly over the insole to a degree greater than the extent of the welt strip.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,795,822 6/1957 Long 12-142 x 3,070,909 1/1963 Binder et a1. 36-17 X 3,124,866 3/1964 Sherbrook 3617 FOREIGN PATENTS 294,670 2/1954 Switzerland.

FRANK 1. COHEN, Prim y Examine"- 

1. A GOODYEAR WELT CONSTRUCTION FOR SHOES COMPRISING AN INSOLE, A SEWING RIB ON THE INSOLE AJACENT THE EDGES THEREOF, AN UPPER SECURED TO THE RIB, AND A WELT STRIP SECURED TO THE RIB AT THE OUTER ASPECT THEREOF, WITH A PORTION OF THE UPPER BETWEEN THE WELT STRIP AND THE RIB, THE WELT STRIP BEING FOLDED OVER THE RIB AND CEMENTED DOWN ONTO THE SAME AND EXTENDING BEYOND THE RIB, SAID WELT STRIP COVERING THE RIB, AND THE RIB BEING FOLDED DOWN ONTO THE INSOLE SO THAT THE RIB, THE EDGE OF THE UPPER, AND THE FOLDED OVER WELT STRIP FORM A RELATIVELY SMALL PROJECTION IN THE AREA OF THE RIB ABOUT THE INSOLE, AND A MOULDED OUTSOLE CONFORMING TO THE SHAPE OF THE PROJECTION AND THE INSOLE AND ATTACHED ONTO THE FOLDED OVER WELT STRIP AND THE INSOLE COMPLETELY COVERING THE WELT STRIP AND THE INSOLE, THE UPPER EXTENDING OVER A PORTION OF THE INSOLE AND BEING CEMENTED TO THE INSOLE. 